


An Accidental Guide: Embarrassing The Heck Out of Your Teenage Daughter

by akasharpiegirl



Series: The Thrilling Saga: Morgan Stark Goes On A Field Trip [1]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Adorable Morgan Stark (Marvel Cinematic Universe), Ah yes the twist to the field trip trope we’ve all been waiting for, Angst with a Happy Ending, Bullies, Bullying, F/M, Field Trip, Fluff, Gen, Genius Morgan Stark (Marvel Cinematic Universe), Light Angst, Morgan Stark Needs a Hug (Marvel Cinematic Universe), Morgan Stark has social anxiety, Morgan Stark-centric (Marvel Cinematic Universe), Morgan Stark’s Field Trip to Stark Industries, Parent Pepper Potts, Parent Tony Stark, Peter Parker & Morgan Stark Friendship (Marvel Cinematic Universe), Peter Parker is a dad now, Precious Morgan Stark (Marvel Cinematic Universe), Protective Happy Hogan, Protective Pepper Potts, Teen Morgan Stark (Marvel Cinematic Universe), Tony Stark Does What He Wants, Tony Stark Lives, Tony loves his kid ok, Uncle Happy Hogan, Uncle James "Rhodey" Rhodes, hes just so proud of her, it’s undiagnosed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-05
Updated: 2021-01-05
Packaged: 2021-03-15 08:14:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 11,177
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28560387
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/akasharpiegirl/pseuds/akasharpiegirl
Summary: When Morgan Stark’s school holds a contest, there’s a pretty good chance her grade might get to go on a field trip. To where? Not somewhere Morgan would like to go to with her whole entire grade.
Relationships: Happy Hogan & Morgan Stark (Marvel Cinematic Universe), Happy Hogan & Pepper Potts, Happy Hogan & Tony Stark, James "Rhodey" Rhodes & Morgan Stark (Marvel Cinematic Universe), Morgan Stark (Marvel Cinematic Universe) & Original Character(s), Morgan Stark (Marvel Cinematic Universe) & Tony Stark, Pepper Potts & Morgan Stark (Marvel Cinematic Universe), Pepper Potts/Tony Stark, Peter Parker & Morgan Stark (Marvel Cinematic Universe), Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Series: The Thrilling Saga: Morgan Stark Goes On A Field Trip [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2092542
Comments: 11
Kudos: 109





	1. A Science Trip.

**Author's Note:**

> Honestly this is a complete mess and all over the place (I wrote this every time writer’s block would let me have just a teensy ounce of creativity) but I hope you enjoy regardless. I love the Peter Parker Visits SI stories, so I thought... why not change it up a bit? And here we are. If you want to put your own spin on this idea, please do! I’d love to read it and see what you came up with! (Probably would do a much better job than me.) 
> 
> This also has around 10k words so I will separate it into parts. All will be uploaded shortly after the other to avoid wait time. 
> 
> Currently my brain can only remember three possible triggers.  
> tw // bullying, mention/“showing” of food/eating, swearing.  
> Please let me know if I may have missed anything and PLEASE be safe. 
> 
> I hope you enjoy reading!

**It was mid January of Morgan’s freshman year.**

“Alright, class! Now that our first quiz of the spring semester is out of the way, I have some wonderful news,” Morgan’s chemistry teacher, Dr. Romero speaks up as soon as the clock strikes 3:10. Five more minutes to go.

Morgan looks up from her desk, drops her purple mechanical pencil atop of the doodled-on sheet of notebook paper, and awaits her teacher to continue. 

“This year, for the very first time… the science department is holding a contest,” she continues. “Whichever grade has the highest average midterm score will get to go on a field trip on the Monday before the week of end of course exams.”

A hand shoots up in the row in front of Morgan’s.

“Yes, Miss Zielinski?”, Dr. Romero calls on the boy.

“Where will it be? Do you know yet?”, she asks as her raised hand falls back to her desk.

“Great question. We do not know yet. My fellow science educators and I will be proposing a different trip idea and the administration will be taking a vote as the semester progresses on… which proposed trip will take the crown. But rest assured, you all will know as soon as I can tell you,” she answers. “But, I personally proposed for the trip to a science museum in New York City that would give you some hands-on experience in the lab. It is a workshop that covers how chemistry plays a huge part into our DNA, which we will be going over in just a few weeks.”

There’s murmurs that go off across the room before the teacher speaks up again, “You should expect to know where you will be going by mid April if our grade wins the competition. Many of the trips proposed require a fee to be paid in advance, so permission slips would go out about two or three weeks before the said date. Study hard and you just might get to go!” She looks at the back of the classroom, where the clock was located. “Alright, two minutes still class is over. You may pack up your things and leave when the bell calls for second floor dismissal. Have a wonderful weekend and make good choices!”

Morgan quickly packs up her things and finishes just as the intercom sends off the first bell and the afternoon announcements.

———

“So, how was that chem quiz?”, Tony asks as Morgan closes the passenger side door and buckles her seatbelt.

She motions the symbol for ‘so-so’ with one hand while she sits down her backpack in the floorboard with the other. “Not sure. I'm fairly certain I mixed up two different terms, but… I’ll know I’m due time.”

“I’m sure you did quite well,” Tony says to her with a smile before moving forward in the slow moving car pick up lane. “Mom’s coming home late for work so it’s just you and me for dinner. What do ya want?”

She hums, “Hm. Cheeseburgers.”

“That’s my girl! Cheeseburgers, it is,” Tony exclaims as he turns into the bypass out of Morgan’s school parking lot. 

“Oh! There’s something I gotta tell you too,” Morgan says, breaking the mutual quiet that had been drowned out by low-volumed rock. 

“Oh, yeah? What’s that?”

“If the freshman science classes get the highest average on the midterms, we get to go on a field trip before EOCs,” Morgan says.

“Oh, that’s cool!”, Tony enthuses. “I hope you get to go. Do you know where to yet?”

“Not yet,” Morgan answers. “But Mrs. Romero’s proposal for the trip seems cool… about chemistry and how it relates to DNA and stuff.”

———

“How was work? Did you eat anything on your way home or can I get you something?”, Tony asks upon Pepper’s arrival to their home.

“It was okay. Glad to be home,” Pepper says as she slips her shoes off and sets them by the door. “I came straight home, what did you and Morgan have for dinner?”

“I think you know,” Tony jokes. 

She snickers as she walks over to the kitchen, pulling out a loaf of bread. “Hm. You caved in and got Morgan a cherry limeade from Sonic and got to-go cheeseburgers from somewhere?” Upon laying out a paper towel, she unwraps the container and pulls out two slices. 

“You know us so well,” Tony muses. 

“Father like daughter,” Pepper nods. “Honestly, that’s such an unnerving concept with you two.”

“How so?” He walks over to the island counter, just a bit away from where Pepper stood.

“In the not too distant future she’ll be learning how to drive,” Pepper notes as she continues to fix her dinner. “And if I’m not mistaken, all those years ago, you said you were up to teaching her. But even if you teach her the one hundred percent safe way, I can’t help but feel like the driving habits you possess when a child is not in the car will be passed down to her regardless.”

He holds in a chortle, “You can always take that role. Just because I took it doesn’t mean the task isn’t up for grabs.”

“Oh, no, no, no. You can have it. Driving lessons, all yours. That’s not in the Mom job description that I chose.” Pepper shakes her head. 

“Well then, you can’t complain when she starts driving like me,” he jokes.

“Yes, I can. It’s my right. And, we’ll cross that bridge when we inevitably get to it, Morgan’s still fifteen,” she says.

“What about me being fifteen?”, Morgan says as she’s halfway down the staircase.

“We’re freaking out about your driving lessons when you turn sixteen,” Pepper says as her daughter walks over to her. Morgan hugs her mom from the side then. “You’re growing up way too fast, ya know? You’ve gotta stop that.”

“Can’t help it, Mama,” Morgan laughs just before her mother kisses her forehead. “I don’t want to though.”

“Drive or grow up?”, Tony asks.

“Both,” their daughter says as she steps away from her mother. 

Pepper briefly abandons her half-made dinner and turns to her daughter, “So, how was school today, huh?” 

“It was okay.” She nods before scrunching up her face for a quick second. “I  _ might _ be going on this field trip in May. Some contest between the grades, I don’t know. The announcement was rushed.”

“Like the contest your elementary school did to go to the arts museum?”, Pepper inquires, there’s an odd look on her face when she looks at Tony. 

Morgan nods. 

“Hm, that’s cool.” Pepper smiles. “Do you know where you’d be getting to go to yet?”

The teenager shakes her head ‘no’. “We’re supposed to know by April sometime though.” 

“Well, I hope whatever it is will be grand and it’ll be fun.” 

Morgan walks back over to the stairwell and turns back around to her parents, “Do you think one of you can look over my history essay before too long? It’s due at midnight and I forgot about it until class today.”

Both of her parents snicker before Pepper speaks up, “Yeah. Give me maybe fifteen minutes so I can eat and then I’ll come up and take a look. I’m sure it’s great.”

“Thank you!”, Morgan exclaims before walking back upstairs.

Just a moment later, they hear Morgan’s door shut to a close. 

“What was that for?” Tony raises a brow.

“Huh?”

“When you were asking about the museum,” Tony states, stepping over to her. “You shot me a look. Like you knew something.”

“Morgan’s school system requested to see availability for a guided tour at the end of May,” she answers as she grabs ingredients from the fridge. “...yesterday, so I was told by Angie anyway. I didn’t think anything of it because, you know, K through five, middle grades, and high school levels. Extracurriculars. Different subjects. All that.”

“No way.” Tony gapes. “You’re joking. You have to be.”

“I’d be concerned if my assistant ever lied to me,” Pepper says as she returns back to the island. 

“You lied to me all the time when you were my P.A. Actually, if I recall correctly… our first interaction had something to do with a little lie of yours.”

“Because I had to save your ass… and so did you when you were my boss,” she snarks as she rolls her eyes. 

“That is true,” Tony snickers. “So, whatcha going to do?”

“She’s going to hate us if S.I. is the destination,” Pepper notes as she finished making her dinner. “Whether it be because of a fear of being embarrassed by us or being the center of attention or whatever else. I absolutely hated visiting my mom’s, dad’s, and stepdad’s jobs when I was a kid because of those reasons.”

“So, let her hate us if the admins pick it,” he shrugs. Pepper returns the ingredients back to their rightful places and drops the utensils in the sink before Tony continues. “The chances of the freshman class winning  _ and  _ Stark Industries being the trip location is highly unlikely. Like you said, just like that contest her elementary school did between the third, fourth, and fifth graders. The fifth graders always won the trip because they had more life experience and smarts… the seniors will probably win because it’s the exact same premise. Also the fact that each teacher proposed a different trip, and there’s five different science teachers on the high school side. What is that… a 14.5 chance?”

“Hm, Mr. Stark, I thought you were a genius MIT alumni,” she tsks teasingly. “Close, but not quite. It’s actually 16.67 percent.”

He gapes before letting out a genuine laugh, “I don’t care for statistics. Also, give yourself some credit, Mrs. Virginia ‘I-Graduated-From-An-Ivy-League-School’ Potts-Stark.”

“And that is precisely the reason you best be glad I lied my way up to speak with you,” Pepper smirks. 

“Oh, I am,” Tony says before he wraps his arms around her. “I don’t know where I’d be right now if it wasn’t for you.” Pepper leans in closer to him and kisses him before he can initiate it. 

“I don’t know where I’d be either,” Pepper whispers when the kiss comes to an end. 

———

Pepper leans away from the monitor after reading through Morgan’s history paper. She nods and says, “It’s good. Grammar’s almost perfect, spelling is great. There’s a small run-on sentence just before your thesis that can be tweaked. I think you may want to try to back your second claim just a bit more, though. There’s some holes there that could be easily patched up there… you know, just to avoid getting points docked for not having clear and concise evidence to back your claim. Make sure to remember to add the new sources in the cited, too. Overall, it’s really good!” 

“Thank you,” Morgan smiles. It’s quiet for a brief moment when the teenager begins her search for more sources to reference. Her hand retracts from the mouse when she looks back at her Mom. “You’ll let me know if you know anything about the trip, right?”

Pepper’s eyes widened and quickly recovered. She lies through her teeth, “Mhm, of course. Don’t you worry.” She stands up from the ottoman and walks over to the doorway. “I’ll come back up in thirty minutes and check in.”

“Thank you,” Morgan says to her mom. “Love you, Mom.”

“I love you more, kiddo,” Pepper says before closing the door on her way out. 


	2. Sometimes The Rumor Mill (Unfortunately) Gets It Right.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The winner and the location of the trip is announced.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The intercom bit is purely based off of me when I was in high school waiting on the announcements to finish so I could go cry over homework in my mom’s classroom lol

**April 20:**

“Have a good rest of your day! Remember the homework is due as soon as you enter my room tomorrow,” Morgan’s history teacher says as the class files out of her classroom for the lunch session of the day. 

Morgan dropped her history notebook in her backpack as she walked to her locker to exchange her binders and notebooks for her last two classes of the day. She grabbed her sunflower lunch bag upon doing so, closed the metallic door, and walked to the cafetorium for lunch. 

She’s one of the last few to file into the giant room and is met with conflict in the middle of the commons area for lunch. Two boys were riled up and arguing about God only knows what. One swings, but misses terribly before two administrators attempt to restrain each kid. About half of the kids in the cafeteria are staring, including Morgan, whether they mean to or not. A few of which are filming. 

“Morgan!”, a girl calls over from a round table to her right. “C’mere!”

Morgan looks over at where the noise came from, recognizing her friend group, and walks over to the group. She sits down at the last empty seat amongst her friends and opens her bag of food. “Hey.”

“You look like you just saw a ghost, was that the first fight you’ve witnessed?”, the same girl as before, Elizabeth, snickers. 

“No, a kid decked my old best friend in the face in kindergarten,” Morgan shrugs. “Just threw me off guard. What even happened between them?”

“Blake’s in agriculture with me, has this crush on a cheerleader or someone,” Elizabeth says. “Probably has to do with that.”

“Reasons why I’m grateful that my Dad just terrifies all the boys here,” Morgan shutters. “That’s just freaky.”

“I’m a boy?”, Andrew, Morgan’s only guy friend, speaks up.

“But you’ve got a girlfriend at the arts school and my parents trust you because they’ve known your parents since we were like two,” Morgan shakes her head as she takes out her food from the lunchbox. “You’re immune to it unless you try to pull something.”

“True.” He cringes. “Your dad is kinda scary, though.”

Morgan stifles a laugh, “It’s only an act. He’s sweet…  _ usually.” _

“Do you think we’ll win? They announce the winner at the end of fourth,” Andrew says.

“I forgot you were taking science this semester.” Morgan blinks before she takes a bite of her turkey and cheese sandwich. “I don’t even know, my midterm grades haven’t made it to I.C. yet.”

“Really? Mine came in yesterday. All As, baby,” she exclaims as she tilts her head quizzically. 

“Yeah, me and El are in Mr. Mathis’ fourth block. Chem, like you,” Andrew nods. “Mine came in this morning.”

“Is Mathis as good as everyone says he is?”, Morgan asks. 

“I think so,” Elizabeth confirms and Morgan opens her bag of pretzels. “I’m going to request to be in one of his physics classes for my senior year if he’s still here by then.”

“Yeah, he’s cool.”

“Did he tell you guys what his trip proposal was?”, Morgan asks. 

“Nah.” Elizabeth shakes her head. “Did yours?”

“Yeah,” Morgan says. “Something at the Hall of Science. Hands on lab work with DNA, kinda cool.”

“That’s cool. You’d probably lose your mind if the rumor about Ms. Parks’ pick is right,” Andrew says. 

“A good ‘lose my mind’ or bad?”

“Bad,” he nods. “You haven’t heard?”

“Nobody I know is in Ms. Parks’ classes this semester, so no,” Morgan shrugs. “What is the rumor?” After taking a bite of a mini pretzel, she grabs her water bottle and takes a sip.

“S.I.,” Elizabeth informs.

Morgan almost chokes on her water then. She sets her water bottle down before forcing out a cough. “E-Excuse me, did I hear that right? My Mom’s job?” A forced cough again as she attempts to clear her throat.

“It’s possible, yeah,” Andrew nods.

“That’s  _ not _ possible, Mom promised me,” Morgan says before a small cough escapes. Andrew stifles a laugh as he unscrews the lid to his thermos.

“Like I said, it’s just a rumor,” Andrew attempts to reassure, setting down the lid on the table. 

“What’s your deal with Stark Industries anyway?”, Elizabeth asks. “If one of my Dads were to be a big CEO and I got to go with my class to one of their headquarters I’d feel like... super awesome.”

“Six words: fear of parental and acquaintance embarrassment. I like to know what’s going on and when I don’t... I don’t really feel all that great.”

“Your parents seem kinda cool though. They wouldn’t just embarrass you on purpose,” Andrew says.

“You’d think so wouldn’t you?”, Morgan all but shrieks. “My Dad definitely would, no questions asked. My Mom doesn’t seem like she would, but she does. And no, they are  _ far  _ from cool. You just think they’re cool because you don’t live with them day in and day out.”

Morgan’s friends can’t help but laugh then.

“Happy takes me there every Tuesday and Thursday after school, and I can’t tell you how many tours I’ve heard going on. I could lead the entire tour if we go. I know every little fun fact, every quirky joke. The entire opening monologue, safety portion included. No, Mom and Dad, the receptionist does not need to know that I won a statewide writing contest at eight. And no, Thor, Jenna from research does not need to know that I had an imaginary friend from the age of four to ten!” Her face scrunches up. “I don’t even know where Thor found that out, either. Dad, probably.”

“What was your imaginary friend’s name?”, Andrew asks, there’s a soft look on his face. 

“Her name was Celeste and she lived in the lake by my house. She was a princess, too.”

“Like a mermaid?”, Elizabeth tries to control her laughter. “And her name was… Celeste? That doesn’t even make any sense.”

“Yes,” Morgan says, folding her arms in defense. “Nothing makes any sense when you’re four.”

———

Her last two classes felt like Christmas Eve night to her. The minutes drug on as if they were completely separate days and she could not focus during any section of each class. 

She tried, but her notes had two bullet points and the rest contained doodles, old Taylor Swift song lyrics, and quotes. Morgan couldn’t help that her eyes were glued to the clock, she’d look at the textbook tonight and read through everything over again once she knew that the rumor from Ms. Parks’ class was just that: pure baseless fiction.

That’s when the moment of truth came. The intercom went off and the school secretary began to speak through the all-call, “Good afternoon faculty, staff, and our wonderful students. I trust you all have had a terrific, progress filled Thursday. Tonight our Hudson Valley Lady Knights softball team takes on the Midtown Lady Tigers here at homebase at 6 PM. Good luck to our wonderful team tonight! If you wish to go support our Lady Knights this evening, please remember that student and faculty tickets are five dollars while regularly priced tickets are eight dollars. Please show your school ID if you wish to use—“

“Come on, come on…”, Morgan mumbles as she awaits the announcement.

“—If you are a part of the prom planning committee, please report to Miss Jameson’s office immediately after the afternoon bell signal or in the morning for proper assignments regarding the junior and senior prom that will take place on May 6th at 7 PM—“

“Come on,” she continues to grumble. “It’s not that hard.”

“—Last but not least, all midterm grades are in for this semester! If you are taking a science course this semester, please listen up. The winner of the field trip contest goes to… drumroll please...“, the secretary continues. Morgan can hear a pencil drumming noise coming through the speakers which makes her giggle just a little. “The freshman class with a collective science midterm grade average of 98.3%! The juniors falling just behind with 97%, sophomores coming in with an average of 95.2%, and the seniors with a 91.4% average. We’ve got a smart group of new kids this year, congratulations!”

“Good job, you all! I’m so proud of you!”, Dr. Romero says for a brief second.

“The trip picked by your very own administration team will be a guided tour at Stark Industries just outside of the upstate portion of the Hudson Valley. If you are in the freshman class and are sitting in your science classroom right now, your teacher should be passing the permission slips out shortly. If you are not, you may either come by your teacher’s classroom after school shortly, receive it in class tomorrow, or come by the front office any other time this week to grab one. They are due to your teacher by next week on Friday.”

Morgan sees everyone staring at her and she’s too embarrassed to listen to the rest of the announcements. Nonetheless, she still grabs the permission slip from her teacher, folds it and slips it in her binder, and quickly packs up her items once the bell rings. 

“Morgan, how’d you not know?”, Sarah Zielinski runs up to Morgan as she runs down the nearest staircase. “Looked dumbfounded back there, mad even.”

“I don’t know,” Morgan mumbles. “My parents don’t tell me everything that happens… even regarding field trips, apparently. Plus, my Mom doesn’t even work with field trips. She’s the CEO. Why do you care?”

“Ouch,” Sarah says. “Just wondering. Will you be going?”

“Knowing my parents, probably,” she says. “I don’t want to go, though.”

“Why don’t you?”

Morgan keeps walking.  _ She’s just trying to pry. This is what she does…. been doing that since sixth grade. Just get to the car line, Happy’s already here. _

“Stark! I asked you a question,” Sarah catches up again. “Why don’t you?”

Morgan looks at the girl and just shakes her head before pushing open the double doors and finding where Happy’s car was. 

Rain dropped onto Morgan’s hair and face then. She grumbles and picks up the pace. 

“Afraid your parents are going to embarrass you?”, she prods. “Ooh, if they do I hope I’m in earshot, good material.”

“Will you just shut up?”, Morgan asks before opening the passenger side of the car and gets in. 

“Geez, kid, you okay?”, Happy asks, peering out of the passenger side window. “That kid bothering you  _ again?” _

“She and her friends will never stop. Not a big deal,” Morgan grumbles as she buckled her seatbelt. 

———

Morgan pokes at her dinner with her fork as her parents discuss various things amongst themselves.

“So, Maguna, how was school?”, Tony prods.

“Fine.”

“Did anything interesting happen?”, Pepper asks.

“No, unless you count the fight that broke out during lunch between two boys over a cheerleader,” Morgan states as she looks up from her uneaten food. “Otherwise, the usual, I guess.”

“Damn, private school couldn’t even shield you from that,” Tony cringes. He changes the subject. “Kid, you okay? You’re not eating.”

“Not hungry,” she mumbles. “Big lunch.”

“How was chemistry today? Isn’t that your favorite class this year?”, Pepper asks, unknowing.

“Meh,” Morgan sighs. “The winner was announced today. For the field trip thing.”

Both of her parents’ eyes widened. 

“Is that so?”, Tony asks. “What was the result? You seem disappointed.” He shoots Pepper a look.

“You promised me,” the teenager says, looking at her mother. “Freshman class won with a 98 point somethin’, guess where?”

“In my defense, I didn’t think that the freshmen would take the prize,” Pepper defends. “The chance was low, for both variables. I also didn’t know what group won, this is the first I heard it was the freshmen.”

“I don’t care if the chance was low, I still should’ve been warned or something. It would’ve been nice!”, Morgan yelps. 

“Take a breath, Morgan,” Tony says. “If you calm down and let us talk about it—“

“Everyone was staring at me when it was announced, I hated it so much! Sarah bombarded me with questions about it after school and I can only imagine what it would be like if I actually  _ went,”  _ Morgan vents, her volume louder than she meant. 

“Sarah’s still bothering you?”, Pepper inquires.

“School won’t do anything about it because she’s nice to everyone else…”, Morgan mumbles. “...but me.”

“Where’s the permission slip?”, Tony asks in an eerily calm tone. 

“I drenched it in the rain and threw it in the trash can outside of the front office before Happy picked me up in the car line,” Morgan deadpans, her voice low.

“Did you actually?”, Pepper tries to keep herself from laughing. 

“No, of course it’s in my backpack!”, Morgan exclaims. “I’m not that mean.”

“Go get your backpack then,” Tony says.

Morgan blinks.

“Now. Please?”

She rolls her eyes before vacating the kitchen table and walking upstairs.

“You’re making her go, aren’t you? Not that I’m against it or anything, but, you know,” Pepper snickers. “I thought I was the one who called the shots when it came to disciplining?”

“She’s making way too big a deal out of it,” Tony nods. “If she would’ve calmed down and explained her concerns without the attitude, I might be more comfortable with letting her skip out. Like I get it, she’s scared of being embarrassed, I’m not stupid. But she didn’t calm down and explain that. This feels right, I don’t know.”

About two minutes later, Morgan comes back down with her geometric patterned purple and blue backpack in tow. She hands her father the backpack after he cleaned up his dishes. 

“Where is it?”, Tony asks as he unzips the main pocket.

“In… my science folder?” She says as she stands at the base of the stairs. “The blue one, it’s labeled.”

He pulls out the blue pocket folder and opens it up, taking the paper out of the left pocket. He pulls out Morgan’s pencil pouch and takes out the first pen he sees before setting the violet bag on the table. “Who shall do the honors, hm?”

“You, this is your plan not mine,” Pepper says, shooting a sympathetic look at her daughter when Tony can’t see it. “If it were up to me, I’d let the poor girl skip out.”

He writes various things down before sliding it back in the pocket, “There. You’re going.” He looks over to her. “Oh, by the way. Your Infinite Campus updated grades. All As, be proud, kid.”


	3. Please Let This Be A Normal Field Trip?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> — To Stark Industries? No way!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> that description makes me giggle anytime I see it. I really loved Magic School Bus as a kid.

**May 22:**

Morgan hears the sound of her alarm for the second time and hits the snooze button. She rolls over on her side and attempts to fall back asleep. She does, but just barely. 

The alarm goes off again.

She grumbles and reaches her hand over to hit the button again. Needless to say, Morgan did  _ not  _ want to get up this morning.

Just when she does, there’s a light knock at the door, followed by her Dad’s voice: “Rise and shine, Goona. Got a big day today.”

“No, I do not,” Morgan mumbles into her pillow. 

“Yes, you do,” Tony says as he stands in the doorway of Morgan’s room. “I’ll be back up in five minutes and if you’re not up by then I’ll pick you up and carry you downstairs as if you were still a ten month old baby.”

“But I… I don’t feel well,” she lies through her teeth. Add a cough or two in for extra believability. 

He nods before speaking, “Hm. What are your symptoms then?”

“A cough, I h-have a headache—“ Cough. “—and I’m kinda cold. Kinda… um, kinda hurts to move.”

“Sounds like the flu to me,” Tony raises a brow. Morgan coughs. “Which is odd, considering the fact that it’s May and definitely  _ not  _ flu season.”

“Just ‘cause ‘ts not flu season doesn’t mean I can’t get it,” Morgan lies. She coughs.

“Which is true,” Tony nods. “But, it’s highly unlikely.”

She grumbles. 

“But since you  _ feel _ crummy, you want to come downstairs with me to check your temperature?”, Tony asks. “You know how sickness goes in this house.”

Morgan’s eyes widened as she was grateful her face was buried into the pillow because that would totally give it away. “S-Sure.” She coughs again and gets out of bed. 

He lays the back of his palm on Morgan’s forehead before checking the back of her neck. Tony’s hand falls back to his side when he says, “You feel fine. But we’ll go ahead and check.”

She follows him downstairs and by the time she gets down, Tony already has the cleaned thermometer in his hand. 

She takes it from him and holds it under her tongue with a closed mouth, mentally praying that it would actually read a fever somehow.

It beeps about a minute later and she crosses her fingers behind her back.

“Hm, 97.3. No fever,” Tony says quietly. “And your cough is gone, too. Isn’t that peculiar?” He cleans the thermometer and puts it back in the cabinet. “Almost as if… you’re not actually sick?” He turns back toward her.

She blinks.

“I know all of the fake sick tricks, kiddo,” Tony lets out a small laugh. “But there’s one fault you didn’t think of… you never like to admit you’re sick until something proves it. Just like your Mama.”

“I—“

“Go upstairs, get cleaned up, and dressed for school. Whatever you’ve got to do. I’ll take you once you do all that and get something to eat. Your lunch is already with Mom,” Tony says. “This field trip is not going to be as bad as you think it is. I promise.” 

“Yeah,  _ sure,” _ Morgan grimaces. “I totally believe you.”

“I promise,” Tony repeats. “Get a move on, kiddo! Traffic’s bad and I gotta get you to school on time otherwise I’ll have to take you directly  _ to  _ S.I. and I highly doubt you’d want that.”

———

“I’m shocked you didn’t find a way to get out of this trip,” Elizabeth snickers as she sits in the aisle seat on the rented charter bus, next to Morgan who was sitting at the window seat. Elizabeth takes out her phone and earbuds prior to stowing her backpack below the seat in front of her. 

“Oh, I tried,” Morgan sighs as she messes with the loose strands in front of her french braided pigtails. Despite Morgan being angry with her Dad, she had asked him to do her hair this morning before school and he had graciously agreed. “Dad didn’t exactly fall for my ‘Ferris Bueller’ attempt.”

“Ferris Bueller?”, Andrew turns around in his seat to talk to his friends. 

Elizabeth and Morgan both gasp and say almost simultaneously: “You’ve never seen Ferris Bueller’s Day Off?!” Morgan trails behind by a millisecond or two.

“No? When did it come out?”, Andrew asks.

“1986,” Elizabeth states. 

“Well that’s why,” Andrew shrugs. “I was born in twenty-nineteen, not the 70s.”

“We were both born in twenty-eighteen and we’ve seen it,” Morgan says. “I first saw it when I was thirteen.”

“‘Twas twelve,” Elizabeth answers. “God, we’ve gotta get you cultured.”

“Well that’s because your parents were teens in the 80s,” Andrew says. “Mine were teens in the early 2000s.”

“I’d say you could watch it at my house but Dad won’t ever let a teenage boy step within one hundred feet of his property,” Morgan grumbles. 

“If he did let us watch it at your house he would make a big deal about it and make a point to sit between you two, even if you two weren’t actually sitting directly next to each other,” Elizabeth snickers.

Morgan’s eyes widen and jokingly covers her eyes with a cupped palm in embarrassment. 

“Remember when we had a science diorama project last year and he told us that the house was off limits and to work on it at the public library?”, Andrew laughs.

“Yes,” Morgan cringes and rests her arm back down. “I know he’s just protective but it’s  _ so _ embarrassing! On the bright side, that’s the day I found my favorite book series, so it wasn’t  _ that _ bad.”

———

There are about 100 kids crammed in the lobby of the building, Morgan stood at the very back. Her friends were further ahead, and the murmurs of her fellow students was too loud for her to grab their attention. So, she stayed, trying oh-so-hard to blend in. She prayed with every ounce of her being to some force above that this would truly be: a normal field trip. 

“Good morning, to the wonderful freshman class of the Hudson Valley School of Science and Technology! May I be the first to welcome you all to Stark Industries. My name is Connor Pitt and I have been here as a security guard for S.I. for the last five years. I love it here and couldn’t have it any other way.”

Morgan rolls her eyes at the blond haired man she recognized from previous visits to see her mother. His excitement was so blatantly exaggerated that it made her cringe. 

“Our wonderful security has been put into place by Stark Industries’ Head of Security Happy Hogan,” Connor explains. “Though the security measures are run through our beloved FRIDAY, who reads everyone’s badge upon entry. My co-workers and I are really just here to explain through the actual security process and to alert higher-ups if there’s some type of issue… whether it be technical or otherwise.”

_ And now he’s going to talk about the— _

“Who can tell me what important device I just mentioned a moment ago?”, he asks the group of kids.

About twenty kids raise their hands and a few shout.

“Hm, how about the kid in the blue and white cardigan on my right?”, Connor calls out a freshman that Morgan recognized from her first block. “What about you? Got an answer for me?”

The girl dropped her hand and answered, “A badge.”

“Yes! You will be given a designated badge once you get past the first security check point. And these badges have different levels. Tour guests such as you and your friends here, the press, and other guests always receive  a bronze badge. We may refer to a bronze badge as a simple day pass. Silver is given to one time guests who may be related to one of our employees, coming in for an interview, or if you work here… you work on the first few floors, one through three, and so on,” he begins to explain. “Gold is given to employees such as our wonderful cafeteria staff, mail staff, janitorial staff, and employees that work on the next few floors… five through eight. For a select few gold badge members, you may be given special access to all floors. Platinum is reserved for Mr. Hogan, our wonderful CEO—Mrs. Pepper Potts-Stark and her husband. Along with their teenage daughter who is also a freshman and may be about your age, Morgan, and their other family and friends.”

_ You weren’t supposed to say that part! Now they’re going to ask— _

“Mr. Pitt?”, a kid in the front row speaks up and Morgan’s fairly certain it’s Sarah.

“Yes, Miss?”, he acknowledges.

“She goes to school with us,” the girl says.

_ Nonono, DONT— _

“Who? Morgan?”

“Shit,” Morgan grumbles under her breath. 

“Mhm,” she answers.

“Well, I wouldn’t know if she does or not. I’ve only spoken with her in passing and she’s extremely shy. I don’t think it would be nice to call her out. Plus it’s not really my place to say either,” he says with an uncomfortable smile. 

_ Oh thank God.  _

He clears his throat before continuing. “Moving on, shall we? Yes!”

———

“Welcome back, Morgan. Would you like me to alert your mother that you are here? She is currently in a meeting,” FRIDAY greets the teenager when she holds her platinum badge against the scanner. 

“Hi, FRI. No, it’s for a field trip,” Morgan responds, rolling her eyes. “She and Dad know I’m here.”

“Oh, okay. Have fun,” the AI responds before Morgan walks over to her designated tour group, meeting back up with her friends. 

“I can’t believe Sarah did that,” Elizabeth whispers. 

“At least Connor didn’t actually feed into it,” Morgan shudders. She glances at Andrew before shaking her head. “Hey, Happy loses his mind when he can’t see badges. Keep it in view otherwise you’ll end up like me last year when he didn’t recognize me despite the fact that he himself literally dropped me off fifteen minutes prior.” 

“When did—“

“Alright, hi everyone! My name is Jenna Collins and I am your tour guide this wonderful day,” a girl Morgan recognized, Jenna, ( ~~ also the girl Thor told about her imaginary friend ~~ ) introduced herself. “I started out as a collegiate intern a few years ago and was welcomed back as a full time research analyst once I graduated. I absolutely have loved every single second of this job and was very happy to take up this time today to show you around.” She pulls out a tablet from her bag and skims it. “I need to call roll for those who haven’t come up to clear your name with me. Brighton, Catherine?”

“Here!”

“Johnson-DuBois, Elizabeth?”, Jenna calls out.

Elizabeth laughs before saying, “Here!”

“Gonzales, Mary?”, Jenna continues. 

“Present.”

“Harper, Andrew?”, Jenna asks.

“Here,” Andrew exclaims.

“Nicholson, Katy?”

“Here,” a kid near the middle of the crowd of students says.

Jenna looks up at the crowd and back down to her paper, squinting. “Wow, I am seeing that right. Morgan? Morgan Stark? Why are you here?”

Morgan’s eyes widened, when her entire group searched around for her. Murmurs started amongst the group then.  _ Shit. _

She grimaces before making her presence known, “Y-Yeah, um... I’d rather be at home playing Stardew Valley and listening to my old Taylor Swift and The Beatles records… maybe rewatch A Series of Unfortunate Events. But no... My dear old Dad made me show up.”

“You have Taylor Swift records?”, Sarah from earlier asks. 

She stares at the girl before grimacing. “Yeah,” Morgan stammers and shrugs. “They’re my Mom’s vinyls... t-technically. But I, uh, I got a hold of them when I was like e-eleven and now they’re in my stash of vinyls next to my, uh, my record player.” Her nerves start to set in and she tries to shake it off. “N-Now can… um… erm, may the floor go back to Miss Jenna? I-I believe that she was trying to speak.”

“Well, it’s a pleasure to have you here with us, Morgan,” Jenna smiles sympathetically before looking down at the tablet again. “Last straggler here real quick. ...Zielinski, Sarah?”

“Here!”, the same girl exclaims. 

“Now that I know everyone in my group is here, let’s get started! Before we get a move on and I get to show you around, it’s important to cover the bases of the history of Stark Industries and the foundation in which helped the company succeed for 92 years so far. Many more to come as well.”

_ Let me guess, this is the part where— _

“Stark Industries was founded in 1940 by Howard Stark. The company was most largely known for our weapons manufacturing division up until 2008 when it was shut down. But before we discuss that sector, we must skim through the parts that led to this monumental decision. Our founder passed away in 1991, way before you or I came along, leaving the company to Tony Stark—his son. But the younger Mr. Stark had not taken up the mantle as CEO until a year later. Between those time periods, a man named Obadiah Stane took up responsibility as the chief executive officer… which, was probably not the best idea in hindsight. But regardless—“

_ What if I were to just…?  _ Morgan then raises her hand.

Jenna raises a brow, “Yes, Miss Potts-Stark? You have a… question?”

She lets out a shaky breath before speaking up, I actually have a statement and that is this: I am a Howard Stark and Obadiah Stane anti. And when I die one day, I cannot wait to take that stairway to hell and give them both a piece of my mind because if you hurt either of my parents, you hurt me and therefore I hurt you. Thank you for listening to my TED Talk.” 

Morgan’s entire group gapes at Morgan’s statement, but she can tell Jenna’s holding back some sort of laugh. 

“Not if I get there first, kid,” Rhodey’s voice comes from behind Morgan, while Jenna continues to speak in the distance. “What are you doing here anyway?”

“I got in trouble, my grade is on a field trip and Dad made me go,” Morgan rolls her eyes, giving her pseudo-uncle a side hug. “Why are you here, though? I thought you weren’t supposed to come visit for another two weeks.”

“Got away early and your Dad said he needed to speak with me… something urgent, apparently,” Rhodey says once Morgan lets go.

She grimaces. “If he’s got some plan to embarrass me can you please shut it down? Today’s already been bad.”

“Can’t make any promises but I’ll try my best,” Rhodey nods. “Go on, they’re already moving forward without you.”

The two part ways and Morgan catches up to the small crowd. 

“—This is when our wonderful current CEO, Mrs. Potts-Stark was appointed. Ever since the shutdown of the weapons manufacturing division and eventually Mrs. Potts-Stark’s leadership… the company has greatly flourished even more as the largest technological conglomerate in the world,” Jenna explains. “As we’ve seen so far, the first floor is mainly just for big conference rooms and other office spaces. Onto the second floor, shall we?”

———

“As said previously, the second and third floors are home to our vast many accountants, research analysts, and the HR department. I happen to work on this floor,” Jenna explains when they make it to the middle of the third floor. She looks around for a brief moment before turning her head back to see a raised hand. “Yellow shirt?”

“What exactly do you do?”

“Well, it’s kind of interesting! By the name, I should be in the upper floors working with R&D. But I get the research data from the research department and work with accountants to make sure what we want to put out will work with our budget. I'm analyzing data, but when it comes down to it… I’m basically a messenger! After analyzing, all of this information gets sent up to the labs for development.”

“Do you work with any of the Avengers?”, the same kid asks.

“I personally do not,” Jenna shakes her head. “But some of my coworkers do. I have had conversations with a few of them, though... the Avengers, I mean.”

“Who?”

“Thor often visits and shares many quite intriguing stories,” Jenna recalls with a small smile. “Spider-Man often visits too. Though, more often than not Spidey sticks around just to catch up with Mr. Stark. Ms. Marvel and Ironheart are often seen around too. I’d mention Mr. Stark’s persona as well, although he retired and put his suits away in 2023.” 

“Does anyone know why he retired?”

“‘Cause of me,” Morgan speaks up before Jenna can. 

“Also the fact that the poor man is old,” Elizabeth shrugs. “He just wants to stay on the ground.”

Morgan snickers and covers up her mouth with a balled fist. 

———

They’re on the lab floors now and their tour group has been given permission to wander around (within reason, of course). 

While her friends were genuinely interested in exploring, Morgan was sitting in a light blue lounge chair, scrolling through her phone near the front elevators and escalators. She snickered at a post she saw just before she heard a loud shrill from afar that could break all the glass in the area if it would’ve been any higher: “MORGAN!”

Her eyes widened in shock before she looked up and peered around, searching for where the voice came from. It’s not long before she sees the four and a half year old she knew all too well barreling toward her. Well, and also a few kids from her school and employees giving her weird looks as they walked. Which as you can imagine, didn’t make the poor teenager feel all that comfortable. She shrugged off the feeling though as the toddler approached her. 

“Leia Parker! What on Earth are you doing here?”, Morgan asks as she picks up the toddler and lets Leia sit in the chair with her. “Where’s your Daddy, huh? You can’t be up here alone.”

“I wasn’t! He’s over there,” Leia says. And sure enough, she points to Peter talking to Tony in the back of the concourse near the back elevators on Peter’s day off. It looked like they had just stepped out of one of the elevators. Tony had something held in his left hand and after squinting to see, it became clear that he was holding Morgan’s sunflower lunch bag.

“Oh, I… yes, I see,” Morgan nods. “Are you happy pre-k is over with? You get to go to the big school next, that’s exciting!”

Leia hums. 

“You’re really lucky, you know? I’m not done with school until Friday,” Morgan complains. 

“I’m sorry,” she frowns. 

“It’s okay. Just don’t grow up too fast and you’ll be fine.”

“I’ll try,” Leia says. 

Morgan looks back up to watch her Dad and pseudo-brother discussing who knows what. “How about I return you back to your Dad, alright?”

“Okay,” Leia nods. 

Morgan stands up and picks Leia up before making her way toward the duo in the back. She clears her throat before speaking, “Hi, Peter. ...Hello, Dad.” 

Peter looks like he’s about to bust out laughing, but only says, “Hey, Morgan. Thank you for being Leia’s favorite person.”

“Oh, it’s an honor to be a toddler’s favorite person. You were mine when I was a toddler. So I’m told anyway, at least,” Morgan says. 

“I still love when Mr. Stark whines about how Spider-Man beat out Iron Man as your favorite superhero for a solid four years,” Peter busts out laughing then. “It just brings me great joy.”

“She wouldn’t go to bed unless I told her the story about D.C. or something similar,” Tony reminisces. “God, I miss that little girl. She used to think I was the best person in the world. Now she questions every single thing I do and claims it’ll embarrass her.”

“I—Okay,” she rolls her eyes at him. Morgan cringes a little after that, but lets it slide. She hoped no one heard that. 

Tony lifts his left arm up, causing Morgan’s lunch bag to fall into the crook of his elbow, and holds his hand out for a high five. “Thank you for getting her attention, kiddo.” 

Leia high fived him back. 

He then hands her a ten dollar bill.

Morgan’s mouth falls open at the scene, “You bribed her?!”

“That I did,” Tony nods. “Since I knew you wouldn’t want to come speak to me otherwise. Thought it would be too embarrassing to call out ‘Maguna’ myself around your friends and classmates.”

“What is she going to even use ten dollars for? She’s four! I could buy a waffle cone with that and you give it to a four year old?” 

“I’m almost five,” Leia corrects.

“You’re still four,” Morgan shakes her head. 

“We gotta get going, munchkin,” Peter says to his daughter. “Doctor’s appointment’s soon.” 

Leia scrunches you her nose, “No.”

Peter frowns, “It’s not going to be bad.”

“Promise?”

“I promise,” Peter assures.

Morgan bends down and sets Leia down. Leia grabs ahold of her father’s hand. 

“Five minutes, you all!”, Jenna announces. “Wrap up what you’re doing and find me when you’re done.”

Morgan looks back to where the voice was coming from before looking back at her father and brother. She makes a point to roll her eyes at her father when her head turns back. 

“You’re still alright with MJ, Leia, and I coming over next weekend to celebrate Leia’s birthday, right?”, Peter asks.

“Of course,” Tony says as a few of the popular girls from Morgan’s school—Sarah included—walk behind Tony to another open area. She watches them carefully before looking back. “Always welcome.”

“I’ll get to play dolls with you when I’m over, right?”, Leia asks.

Morgan smiles and is about to speak when she hears a laugh coming from the direction where Sarah and her friends went. She looks over her right shoulder to see what was going on and her smile dissipates. She furrows her brows before looking back at Leia. “Sure. Can't wait.”

Peter and Leia walk back in the open elevator door and he presses the button to close the door.

“Dad, you are getting on my last nerve,” Morgan complains.

“What did I do?”, Tony asks. 

“Oh, I don’t know! Bribed Leia into getting my attention entirely too loud to the point that everyone looked at me, made me go on this trip, not take pity on me?”, Morgan huffs. 

“First of all, I didn’t realize Leia would’ve lost her mind in the process of the bribe. Second, it’s good I’m getting on your last nerve. Part of my Dad gig. Now, I must continue my descent down the elevator to meet your mother for a meeting. Here’s your lunch, enjoy the rest of the tour.”

He hands her the bag of food.

“Thank—“

He’s about to get on the elevator then when—

“You still play with dolls at fifteen?”, Sarah interjects. 

Morgan stares at Sarah and her friend with a hurt glare. 

Tony looks from a sad Morgan to a conniving Sarah with wide eyes. 

Morgan takes in a sharp breath before speaking: “No, I do not. My four-year-old niece does, however, and when she’s old enough I’m planning on giving her my old dolls and sets that I have in my closet.” She fidgets with her hands when she sees the phone pointing toward her. She hated this feeling. “Plus, what’s the big deal if I did?”

“It’s childish,” Sarah’s friend, Halle, snickers. 

“Last I checked we are children until eighteen,” Morgan says, glancing at her Dad who still looked dumbfounded. “And even if I did collect them still, I would not be hurting anyone by doing so. I can’t think of any reasons why my thirteen played with American Girl dolls and three Wellie Wishers hiding out in my closet would hurt someone.”

Tony clears his throat before stepping between Morgan and Sarah. “You however, are attempting to bring down my daughter’s self esteem. Which is hurting someone. Multiple people, actually,” he says, his voice cold. “And you don’t really want to hurt me, kid. I have the ability to get someone to drop you back at school prematurely and will use it if I see you messing with my kid or anyone else on today’s trip again. You understand me?”

_ Wow, he’s actually trying to make this less unbearable for me. But he knows I can fight my own battles right?  _

Sarah gulped, turning her phone off with the sleep button. “Y-Yes sir.”

Halle murmurs, “Yes sir.”

“Also, photography and videography of any kind isn’t permitted on lab floors. Security issue,” Tony continues. “Turn on your phone and show me proof of deletion or I will check myself.” 

Sarah’s eyes widened at the statement and she quickly deletes the video.

Tony looks down at his watch and sighs. “Now I will be late for my meeting. Can't wait to explain that one to my wife.”

Morgan doesn’t get a chance to tell her Dad ‘thank you’ before he steps in the elevator and the doors close in front of him. 

She hears a muffled, “FRI, keep an eye on that Sarah girl for me, will you?”

———

After ‘lunch period’, they were heading back to the front for the end of the trip. So far, nothing else embarrassing or unnerving has happened.

Morgan exits the first floor women’s restroom and walks back over to the two tour groups that have made it back so far. 

“So, are you pleased?”, Morgan jokingly asks her friends. 

“With what?”, Andrew asks.

“This tour, the place?”, Morgan clarifies. 

“I mean, sure,” Andrew says. 

“Yeah,” Elizabeth shrugs. “Just wanted to get out of childhood development, to be honest.”

“Yikes, childhood development is way more stressful than it should be,” Morgan cringes. “I had it last semester. Don’t blame you.”

“But, Mo, the way your Dad stuck up for you earlier? That was really sweet,” Elizabeth says.

“That’s how he is when he’s not trying to prove a point,” Morgan shrugs. “But I wish he’d sometimes just let me fight my own battles, y’know? I had it under control. Compared to the shit Sarah usually pulls, that wasn’t so bad.”

“He’s still got your back,” Andrew points out. 

“Mhm. That’s what Dads are  _ supposed  _ to do,” Morgan says. “I’m grateful that he stood up for me, but I’m still terrified there’s something embarrassing he’s gonna pull off.” 

“Give him the benefit of the doubt, Morgan,” Andrew shakes his head.

“When do you think the other groups will get back?”, Elizabeth asks.

“I dunno,” Andrew says. “They were getting to the cafe when we left.” He picks up his phone before looking back at his friends. “Wait, do you have to wait on us or are your parents taking you home?”

“I honestly don’t know,” Morgan admits. “Last night Mom just told me to get permission from one of the teachers to visit her office and discuss it with her but she’s still in that meeting with—“

The conference hall doors open and businessfolk file the room. Two of which are Morgan’s parents who were holding hands upon exit.

“—my dad.”

“Well go talk to her,” Andrew says as he tilts his head quizzically momentarily. 

“If she doesn’t walk over here to get to the front elevators I’ll get Mathis’ permission,” Morgan says as she watches her parents converse between each other as they walk. Her mother looks like a mixture between shocked and ticked off. A businesswoman that was an acquaintance of her parents comes up behind them and strikes up a conversation.

“Really? We didn’t seem to have any trouble registering Morgan when she was eleven,” Pepper says as they approach the group of fourteen and fifteen year olds. 

“Huh?”, Morgan makes her presence known. “What about me?”

“She was asking about that middle school science fair you did,” Pepper explains.

“Oh,” Morgan nods with a way-too-polite smile. 

Tony looks at Morgan, there’s some sort of gleam in his eye that she can’t place.

Then it hits her.  _ He better not. Don’t you dare— _

“Our sweet Morgan took first place that year with a project on composting,” he beams. “A lot of great and cool projects there that day but I've got to say I’m partial to my own kid’s project.”

Morgan raises her brows at the statement, she can only imagine the look on her face or color on her cheeks. She mumbles barely coherently, “Please don’t.”

Tony doesn’t hear her but continues, “I hope you figure out why they won’t let you register your daughter. I’m sure whatever project idea she’s got is absolutely great.”

The woman walks out the front doors then.

Her parents murmur something to each other before they share a kiss that was a little more than chaste for Morgan’s liking to witness in a public space.

Murmurs went off right after that moment and she was fairly certain it was because of her parents’ flirting. Morgan knew for a fact she looked horrified now.  _ In front of my friends and class, really?  _

Morgan’s about to say something when her parents separate but is interrupted by an extremely concerned Happy who had walked up to her parents. “Someone was filming in Morgan’s group on lab floors. Saw it on cams.”

“Oh, I handled it already,” Tony says. “That kid who messes with Morgan was trying to embarrass her.”

_ And by telling this to someone where anyone can hear will only make the crippling feeling of embarrassment you’re causing much worse! _

“For why?”, Happy asks. 

Tony glances around the bustling front lobby to see the third group enter and proceeds to speak, “Heck if I know.” He shrugs. “If I were to make a bet, she’s probably just jealous. Morgan’s a smart kid.”

“You can stop now,” Morgan mumbles. “Please.” Nobody, not even her, realizes how close she is to breaking down in that moment. 

“It’s true,” Tony says.

_ Well at least he can hear me.  _

She can barely focus on anything else going on or any other words spoken, but she can tell her Dad’s still bragging about her… ranging anywhere from her grades, writing competitions, or dance. Even going as far as to bring out childhood stories about her. Which, how did these stories come up? Morgan really couldn’t tell. She was too overwhelmed to notice. 

The emotions come up all at once.  _ I’ve gotta come up with something. I cannot cry in front of all these people. Not happening.  _ The next thing she knows, she makes eye contact with Happy and blurts: “H-Has anyone noticed… that, um, that Happy looks like the doctor in Elf?”

She then ran straight for the stairs after saying that. 

“—no, I do  _ not _ look like Jon Favreau,” Happy defends. 

“Yes, you do,” Tony disagrees. “You also looked like him in the 90s when he was acting on Friends as that millionaire that dated Monica.”

“I really do not see it,” Happy disagrees. “But by your logic you also look like Robert Downey Jr.”

“I—“

“Wait. Where did Morgan go?”, Pepper asks with urgency. “She was literally right there.” She points in front of her. 

Andrew and Elizabeth both point to the doors that led to the stairs. They were hinging to a close.

“FRIDAY, where is she going?”, Tony asks.

“Unclear, boss,” FRIDAY answers. “She just passed the third floor corridor.”

“I’ll find her and take her home,” Happy says. “Keep you updated.”


	4. The Calm After the Storm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Aftermath.

Happy lets out a sigh of relief when he finds Morgan hiding out on the roof… sitting against the structure that enclosed the stairwell and elevator. 

She was crying. 

“Morgan, are you alright?”, he asks cautiously.

“J-Just, uh, just needed, uh, a place to think where n-no one could find me,” she says. “Didn’t exactly, uh, y’know… work out.” She points to him. 

“But are you okay?”, he repeats. “I need to know if you’re okay.”

“Physically, yes. Emotionally? Take a guess,” Morgan says, wiping away her tears. “Happy, my Dad told me today wasn’t going to be bad. But you know, you can’t always keep promises.”

“I’m sure he didn’t mean to make today bad,” Happy says sympathetically. “Your Dad’s not that kind of guy to purposely make something… like this trip… unbearable.”

“Logically, I  _ know _ that,” Morgan says. “But it doesn’t mean I feel any better.”

“I know,” Happy nods. “You want to head home? I can take you if you would like.”

Morgan’s quiet.

“It’s either me, wait on your school to take you back to campus and then your parents pick you up there, or wait on your parents,” Happy prys. “Just say the word.”

“You,” Morgan nods.

———

There's a knock on Morgan’s bedroom door about two hours after Happy dropped her back home. 

“Go away,” she says with a taut voice before rolling onto her right side to face away from the door. 

The door creaks open then and she rolls her eyes.

“We brought you dinner,” Pepper says with a takeout bag and a styrofoam drink cup in her hands. Morgan hesitated but sits up and takes the bag of food and cup from her Mom. 

“Thank you,” Morgan says. 

“Can we talk?”, Tony asks, leaning against Morgan’s wall.

“No. What’s there to even discuss? You… you promised me this field trip wasn’t going to be bad and it was all but fine!”, she yells before taking a sip of her drink—which turned out to be a cherry limeade.  _ Ha, yes. Nice going. Using my favorite fast food item as a bribe in order to get me to talk.  _

“Half of that stuff wasn’t even my fault,” Tony defends. 

“But bribing Leia, bragging about me to total strangers, and sharing my childhood stories to half my grade? All you, buddy,” Morgan shakes her head. “I know you didn’t share that story but nobody outside of my family needs to know that I cried backstage after my first ballet recital because I hated the  _ literal _ spotlight or anything similar!” She unwraps her burger and takes a bite. “I appreciate you sticking up for me back there when Sarah was messing with me but everything else kinda overshadows that. Also I can fight my own battles, you know.” 

“I’m sorry. If I could take anything back I could,” he apologizes. 

She continued to drink her cherry limeade as he spoke. 

“I mean, I guess. And I know it’s weird that I’m this worked up about this. But it hurts and I can’t ignore that. I mean it’s like… I-I don’t know. Like, every single time I go to a dance competition or have to present something in class I force myself to practice what I need to say over and over again to get it perfect because I don’t know what I’d do if I’d get something as simple as my studio name wrong or saying the wrong chemical name if I were to be asked,” Morgan vents. Her eyes were red, so was her nose. She had been crying off and on again since Happy drove her home. “I’m scared if I say the wrong thing people will just laugh at me and judge me for it. Today just… it really felt like my worst fear. I had no idea what to say half the time and even when I was trying to speak no one listened or took it seriously. When I was joking or s-spontaneous, of course I didn’t necessarily mind it… I guess. But otherwise…” She sighs. 

Pepper and Tony exchange a look of concern before looking back at their teenager. 

Pepper steps further in the room. “May I sit?”

Morgan shrugs.

Pepper sits down at the foot of Morgan’s bed and hums. “So, it seems like it’s more than just you being shy. Social activities sometimes irk you? Is that what I’m hearing?”

“Yeah.” Morgan hums back weakly. “You sound like a therapist, Mom.”

“If I were a betting woman I think you might have social anxiety,” Pepper says, cutting her eyes over to see Morgan finishing off the cherry lime drink. “It’s not a bad thing, you just need to learn how to manage it when things get a little too stressful where you’re at. Dad and I can check with you on what you’re comfortable with and abide… but not everyone will be as gracious.”

“Okay…”, Morgan nods before she swirls the straw around in the cup in an attempt to get more than just ice. 

“I’m really sorry, I didn’t mean to make anything worse,” Tony apologizes again. 

“I told you it was okay,” Morgan says before taking another bite of her burger. “I just find it interesting that we could’ve figured all of this out back in April if y’all would’ve just let me freak out for more than a second before scolding me. I was literally trying to tell you that.”

Tony’s the one that cringes then. “Is there anything we can do to make it up to you? I know we can’t exactly turn the day back and fix it, but I still wanted to ask.” 

“Ice cream,” Morgan mumbles. 

Both of her parents laugh at her request. 

“I believe we can arrange that,” Tony smiles at his daughter.

“How about you finish your dinner and then we can leave shortly after that, hm?”

Morgan nods. 

———

“What do you want, kiddo? I’ll go up and get it for you,” Tony asks.

“Oh?”, Morgan raises her brows. “Um… either True Blue or that campfire one. Surprise me.”

He nods before looking over at Pepper, “May I get you something too?”

“The coffee one,” Pepper answers.

“Great minds think alike,” he jokes before leaving the table and finding a spot in line.

He comes back with three small bowls of dairy-free ice cream. He sets Pepper’s bowl in front of her, an almost identical one at his seat and lastly, one bowl of the true blue blueberry flavor that he sat in front of Morgan. Her bowl had a waffle cone holding its contents inside. 

Morgan laughs, amused. “Why the waffle cone?”

“I recall you made a comment about wanting a waffle cone when you were yelling at me for bribing Leia, so I obliged,” he says.

“Ah,” Morgan smiles before picking it up. 

“I’m so proud of you, kid,” he says.

“Thank you, Dad,” she can barely say before her Mom interrupts.

“Proud of you too, honey.”

It’s quiet for a moment.

“Can I please stay home tomorrow? I just need a break,” Morgan asks.

“Got anything big going down that you need to be on campus for?”, Tony inquires. “Finals are Thursday and Friday.”

“Studying in core, movies in extracurriculars, all of that end of the year jazz,” Morgan says. “That’s all my classes were doing today, too. I can do all of that at home.”

They share a look before Pepper answers, “Sure.”

“Thank—“

Morgan doesn’t realize it but someone has walked up to their table.

“Hi,” the girl says.

Morgan sets her ice cream back in the cup and looks at the source. Her eyes widened when she discovers who it is. “What do you want, Sarah?”

  
”Oh, nothin’,” she says oh-so-innocently. “Just wanted to thank your Mom for approving the trip for our grade. Quite educational.”

Morgan glances at Pepper briefly before looking back. She can hear her Mother stammer before stopping.

”And Morgan, your sweet niece,” Sarah coos. “Adorable. You willing to play dolls with her even if it makes you so childish and uncool, how sweet.”

Morgan takes a sharp breath in, glancing at her Dad and Mom. She can tell Tony’s about to say something. Morgan uses her open right palm as if to briefly signal ‘stop’ and she spoke, “I really, wholeheartedly hope that your aunt has a beautiful baby girl one day or you yourself have one some day and that this energy you’ve shown me today won’t stick. Wouldn’t want your niece or your daughter to know you think dolls are uncool and that you bully people for fun, would you?” She takes another breath, shaking off her nerves. “Also, not a big fan of being cool anyways. Not really my thing.”

There’s a look of embarrassment that flashes upon Sarah’s face then before she quickly walks away.

”Have a nice night!”, Morgan calls out.

While she picks back up the cone in her left hand, she flips over her phone to see a new message from Peter with her right. It read: “Don’t be mad at your Dad too much. I helped him with the bribe... payback for the time you embarrassed the hell out of me at the Avengers Compound when you were little. :p”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! If you enjoyed, please leave kudos, a comment, or share. It means a lot. (Please be kind too.)
> 
> If you would like an update on my writing, please follow my Twitter (evermorestarks) or my tumblr (akasharpiegirl)!


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